exhausted, struck camp and stole away. Only the detail of the brown-skinned servants and camp followers - the sutlers, dhobi-men, sweepers, bhistis, syces, Lascars and countless others - gave the scene its place.
Hervey nodded modestly to the salutes and well-wishers. His troop were less restrained in their acknowledgements. Enjoy it for the moment, he thought; the monotony of the siege will soon dull the remembrance. But, oh indeed, it had been a very fine affair at the Motee Jheel, and nothing could take from them the rightful sense of victory, if only as local as their leader's rank.
But two days later it seemed that the monotony of the siege would have them all exchange places with any man elsewhere than at Bhurtpore. Major Joynson read the day's general orders to the captains and staff assembled in his orderly-room tent, a well-made affair the size of a tennis court, twelve feet high and lined with vivid yellow cotton - though the smoke of a wood stove and a dozen cigars rendered the lining not as striking as once it had been:
Officiating Assist. Surgeon, J. Douglas, 14th N. Infantry, proceeding to join the army, is, on his arrival in camp, to be attached to the Field Hospital.
A working party of the following strength, from each of the Infantry divisions, to be sent to the Engineer Park to-morrow morning, and to be in attendance there at daybreak, or as soon after as possible - 100 Europeans, 250 Sepoys.
A Detachment, consisting of one and a half Company, to be furnished immediately from the 2nd Infantry Division, for the protection of the Engineer Park, and to provide small Escorts with cattle sent out for materials. The Officer commanding the party, to place himself under the orders of Brigadier Anburey, C.B.
Lieut. G. E. Smyth, 3rd Light Cavalry, Major of Brigade Western Division, is directed to join and do duty with his regiment on service with the Army on the Agra and Muttra Frontier.
Officers in Command of Posts and Piquets, are peremptorily required to detain all persons coming out of the Fort at the Piquets or Posts, reporting the circumstance immediately to the Field-officer of the Piquet, or to the Quarter-Master-General, and not to send them, as hitherto has been the practice, into the interior of their Camp, unless desired to do so by competent authority. Individuals also who may be bearers of Letters or Despatches from the Fort, are not to be permitted to pass the Piquets, but to be detained there, and their Despatches to be forwarded to the Quarter-Master-General, for Lord Combermere's information.
Officers commanding Corps and Departments, to which public or hired camels are attached, are directed to prohibit in the strongest terms, the owners or attendants, when going out with their cattle for forage, from advancing too far into the Jungle in the direction of the Fort, or from proceeding too great a distance from the Camp, as they are liable to fall in with scattered parties of the Enemy's horsemen.
'It's all working parties and foraging, I'm afraid,' Joynson concluded. 'And we have received orders to strengthen patrols and escorts. Dull work, but better than labouring for the sappers.' The troop-captains nodded.
'I have made a roll of the duties. The adjutant is having them copied as we speak. That is the long and the short of it. Are there any questions, gentlemen?’
There were none.
'Very well, that is all. But let us see if we can dine together promptly at seven tonight. Hervey, stay a while longer if you please.'
Major Joynson sounded confident enough, if a shade tired. When he had said, 'I have made a roll of the duties,' Hervey knew full well the major would have done just that - himself, and in every detail, rather than delegating the task to the adjutant. That was what Eustace Joynson did best, better than anyone, indeed, and such was his conscientiousness that he could not allow a task to be performed any less well than was possible. Throughout Lord Towcester's diabolical time in command, Joynson had tried his best in these regards, but all too often he had counted himself a failure - including for his part in the events that culminated in Henrietta Hervey's death. Not that Hervey himself would apportion one ounce of blame to the major, whom he had grown to respect on account of both his conscientiousness and his doggedness in the face of the most wretched personal circumstances. And there was no doubt, too, that the painstaking attention to detail occupied Joynson's mind admirably. Daily he fretted about Frances, for despite everyone's best efforts his daughter had lately become engaged to an officer of native infantry, a penniless and stupid one at that. The responsibility of allowing his daughter to embark on an unsuitable marriage weighed heavily with him. Yet he simply did not have the strength of mind to forbid her.
'Lord Combermere's express orders are that you keep the rank of major, Hervey,
Hervey was not disposed to agreeing without some qualification, for besides aught else he would have no job to do if Joynson continued to attend to every detail. 'Of course, but I must keep command of my troop.'
Joynson nodded blankly. If Hervey thought himself capable of both then who was he to gainsay him? 'I gather Combermere asked that you join his staff.'
Hervey smiled. 'A nice gesture, but a siege is a dull enough thing to be engaged in without having to watch it from headquarters!'
'No gesture, I heard. It was to be General Whittingham's deputy.'
'Yes, but an affair of paper all the same.'
'Sooner or later, Hervey, you'll have to submit to such a regime. Armies aren't run from the saddle, as well you know.'
Hervey smiled again. Joynson's paternalism was endearing, if not always deft; he was no Edmonds - not in his sureness of touch, that is. 'I know, but I would wish for the time being that it were later rather than sooner. This affair will not be at all easy.'
Joynson looked troubled. ‘You doubt we will prevail?'
Hervey considered his words. 'Nothing is certain. It would be well to remember it. The engineers say they can't tunnel; they can only sap the guns forward, and General Edwards says he can't guarantee a breach of walls so thick, even with his twenty-four-pounders. The train begins arriving today, by all accounts.'
'You are well informed. Is there word of how long the engineers will need?'
'Upwards of ten days before they get the first battery into position, according to Brigadier Anburey's major.'
'I think we shall be much occupied, then, with our little escorts and the like. I've agreed with the Eleventh that we shall patrol alternate nights throughout our allotted sectors. Without a natural feature as our boundary it's too chancy to have patrols from both beating about the place. They will take duty tonight.'
A working party from each of the Infantry Divisions, of the same strength as yesterday, to be sent to-morrow at day-break to the Engineer Park. The Quarter-Master's Establishments, and public cattle, to be sent there as usual. A Carpenter is also directed to be furnished from each of the Corps in the 1st and 2nd Divisions of Infantry.
A Detachment, consisting of five Companies from the 1st Infantry Division, will march to-morrow morning, and take charge of 300 Hackeries proceeding from the Artillery Park, for ammunition and stores, to Agra.
With reference to an Act of Parliament, 54th and 86th Geo. III. On the subject of Prize Property Agents, and claims thereto, the Field General Orders of the 16th Instant, appointing a Prize Committee, and directing Prize Agents to be nominated by ballot for each of the Divisions of the Army, and by the General Staff, is hereby cancelled; and it is now ordered, in conformity with the provision of the said Act, that two Agents only be appointed for the Army.
His Excellency the Commander-in-Chief and the Field Officers will nominate one Agent, and the other to be appointed by the Captains and Subaltern Officers with the Army. The Prize Agents will be furnished with the required letters of attorney appointing them Agents for the Army; and they will be prepared on their part, to give security in the sum of ?2000 sterling each. The Prize Agents, on all points of duty connected with their Agency, will
